TO THE EDITOR:
What we need, not only in North Carolina, but also in our great nation, is not revolution or rebellion but a prudent “Energy Reformation.”
Yes, we need to be independent in energy and not depend on Saudi Arabia, Iraq or Venezuela for oil and gas. But should we become Saudi America? The answer is no.
But is ‘fracking’ or hydraulic fracturing the answer? N.C. State University geologists found that the shale gas deposit in the three Triangle counties is at a shallower depth (1,500 feet), and occupies a small volume compared to northern states, where it is 5,000 feet deep and much more spacious in volume and area.
I saw in your Sept. 5 editorial that we must stop the pipeline proposed by Atlantic Coast Pipeline, built with a cost of $5 billion to bring methane from West Virginia by Duke Energy and Piedmont Natural Gas. This plan must be aborted, and we should shift gear to solar and wind energy in North Carolina.
I was in the first fracking public hearing in McKimmon Center on N.C. State’s campus and heard 95 percent of the witnesses who spoke oppose fracking. Dr. Vikram Rao, the new chair of the Mining and Energy Commission, twisted the truth and said, “This anti-fracking crowd is not the microcosm of the state” and “the display of anti-fracking ‘animus’ comes from vocal minority.”
Let me narrate what I said in the three minutes given to me graciously in the public hearing at McKimmon Center:
We must ban fracking in North Carolina or at least reinstate the moratorium in 2015 for five years to explore the risks associated with the process.
We need to establish whether we can frack safely and, if so, locate the distance of the wells at least 1,000 feet away from aquifer, reservoir or lake. We should also identify water quality and quantity risks in the light of imminent contamination and excessive use of water.
